DeHart: Renovations upgrade Kettle Valley Woodworks showroom

An expansion and renovation of the showroom is part of the new look at Kettle Valley Woodworks in Kelowna.

Located at 3-2720 Highway 97 North (across from Jacobsen Pontiac), Kettle Valley Woodworks is owned by Wayne Unger, in business here since 1995. The store renovations have added a new second floor with many new displays and ideas. Unger’s main product is wall beds, offering a wide variety of cabinet options, armoires, desks, hutches and bookcases. Kettle Valley Woodworks also custom builds home office products and home media/wall units, with a wide array of different wood stain colour options. A great bonus is a lifetime warranty on the store’s exclusive European wall bed spring system along with free in-home consultations. All the products are installed by their own skilled craftsmen. Open Monday to Friday. Call 250-860-7056.

Congratulations to A’Lana Rains, who has been promoted to associate principal of MacKay LLP chartered accountants, 500-1620 Dickson Ave. Rains has been with the Kelowna office since 2005, providing accounting, tax and planning services to her clients with a focus on privately held businesses and medical professionals. As well, the accountant firm has added Lynn Wong an associate partner. Call 250-763-5021.

Dr. Hugh Jarvin has been a respected dentist in Kelowna for the past 37 years, his office located at 310-478 Bernard Ave. the entire time. Jarvin has now expanded his practice with dentists Dr. Arek Siwoski and Dr. Jeff Kozak joining him. The new name for the practice is the Bernard Dental Group. Incidentally, I was one of Dr. Jarvin’s first patients and he is still my dentist. Call 250-762-6842.

CoCo Boutique has relocated from 2653 Pandosy St. to 25-3155 Lakeshore Rd. in the Mission Park Shopping Centre. Owned and operated by Cheryl Blum, the new store is much larger and brighter, which gives her more room to bring in and display new items and brands. The shop is chocked full of jewelry, clothing, footwear, (including the exclusive Switch Flops), handbags, evening bags, scarves, shawls, belts with leather and Swarovski crystals, wallets and lots of unique gift items. Make sure you have loads of time when you are visiting this shop. Open seven days a week. Check the store out online at www.cocoboutique.ca.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.

Andrew Pritchard, long-time resident and Southern Interior representative and area shop steward for the local hotel and restaurant workers’ union, has been elected president of the North Okanagan Labour Council. The NOLC is a group of over 40 unions and 8,500 members who meet monthly to discuss opportunities and difficulties found in the area for workers and their families. Pritchard has worked at the Coast Capri Hotel for more than 20 years.

After 36 years, Kelowna Fire Department Platoon Capt.

Henry Roeloffs is retiring on Feb. 28. Roeloffs started as a volunteer and all his service has been in Kelowna. He tells his colleagues that he is just going to “putter around for a while” when he retires.His colleagues tell me he’s the hardest working “Dutchman” they have ever known.

The first event for the Miss Kelowna Lady of the Lake Society is the sponsor night Feb. 19 at the Sandalwood Retirement Residence, 7 p.m. The candidates will be saying a few words about their sponsors and the banners will be pinned. Next up is a fashion show will also be held on May 8 at Missionwood Retirement Residence. Congratulations to the following candidates and their sponsors: Darilyn Bowden (At Your Fingertips); Leah Sorge (Sunrise Rotary); Taylor Duggan (Kelowna Rotary); Elizabeth Hardy (Kelowna Gyro Club); Katie Ranchoux (Nicholas Aubin Notary); Sydney Manyk (Kelowna Kinsmen); Destiny McNish (Grant Thornton LLP); SydneyPimiskern (Capri Rotary) Madi Fox (Towne Centre Mall); and Nicole Swett (RBC Dominion Securities). Call Charlene Wehrmann at 250-764-0013 for more information about the pageant.

The RCMP Foundation, of which I am a director on its board, has just launched a new state-of-the-art website, www.themountieshop.ca, where you can purchase some really great RCMP items such as apparel, jewelry, home décor, toys and souvenirs. It’s worth a look as there is some really “cool stuff” on the site. All proceeds raised goes directly to the foundation, which gives back to communities across Canada to support youth at risk programs.

The Kelowna Community Food Bank and Kelowna Salvation Army are the real winners of this year’s 2013 Canstruction Competition a partnership that also involves Rotary Club of Kelowna, Rotary Club of Kelowna Foundation and Enactus. The event raised more than 28,000 in donated cans of food and more than $2,500 cash to be split between the two food banks. I was pleased to be one of the judges along with Bob Mills (Power 104), Heather Adams (Q103); Gordon Savage (an engineer); and Peter Schultz (President of Rotary Club of Kelowna). It was not an easy task by any means. The winners were Orchard Park Shopping Centre (overall); Maple Reinders (honourable mention); Urban Fare (best use of labels); Dorothea Walker Elementary School (structural ingenuity); St. Joseph’s Elementary School (best meal) and Enactus (people’s choice). Although Save-On-Foods did not win a category for their 26-foot long replica of the old floating bridge, a new category was created called The Bragging Rights Award as the judges were otherwise unable to award them the top prize due to strict guidelines and rules.

A ton of fun and a great way to introduce kids to the theatre or for those young at heart, Disney’s My Son Pinocchio will be presented at Kelowna Actors Studio from Feb. 28 to March 3. Tickets are $17 and the show about one hour. Tickets available at www.KelownaActorsStudio.com or 250-862-2867.

Dawn Ruecki, vice-president of Wells Gray Tours, has been elected to the National Tour Association board of directors. NTA is composed of tour operators who package group travel, along with representatives of destinations, hotels, restaurants and attractions. Many companies in our area attend NTA. Wells Gray Tours maintains offices in Kelowna, Kamloops, Penticton, Vernon and Victoria and specializes in providing group travel experiences worldwide for over 40 years. Joan Niemeier is the director of sales and marketing for the company.

Swinging with the Stars Celebrity Dancer and well-known Kelowna resident Lane Shupe invites you to La Bussola on Thursday, Feb.21. The restaurant is supporting Shupe by offering a special fundraising evening when 30 per cent of the dinner bill (excluding wine, taxes and gratuities) will go to the Central Okanagan Hospice Association in support of Shupe. La Bussola will provide a three course extraordinary fine dining menu for $50 per person. Three to the Bar, a local vocal group, will provide music for the diners and Samuel Galvez, of Mi Salsa and Shupe’s dance instructor, will perform a selection of Latin dances for the diner’s entertainment. It’s going to be a great evening. The Swinging with Stars Gala is March 2. For reservations to La Bussola call 250-763-3110 or COHA at 250-860-4845 for more information.

Sometimes you just need a little vacation and Sunwest Tours, a full service tour and travel planning agency for 34 years with four offices in the valley, is offering new travel experiences to Canada, the U.S. and abroad. Aaron Young, president of business development and marketing for the company, says that traditionally they focused their business on land based sightseeing and casino gambling vacation. The demographic of the tourism market is changing and looking for new travel adventures and they are now broadening their market segment by offering new and targeted products. A few new segments are a ladies only trip to New York for shopping, Broadway show and evening events on May 16 (I like this one!); men’s only trip to Seattle, two games with the Mariners vs. New York Yankees, golf and gambling; Mystery Tour to the U.S. with trip packed full of fun, sights and events (that sounds good too); Naramata to Napa, with wine, dine and sights. Call 250-765-9016; www.sunwesttours.com.

Kelowna Women in Business will host a luncheon Feb. 20 at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Centre with the topic of discussion to be about the “dark side of Internet marketing,” with guest speaker Kel Good, owner of Custom Software Development. Registration starts at 11:30 a.m. Payment is not accepted at the door so register online in advance before Feb.15 at www.kwib.org

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Okanagan College Spaghetti Bridge Building Contest. Engineers, construction, enthusiasts or anyone interested in battling their wits to build a spaghetti bridge can take part in the one-time only contest. Spaghetti Bridge 2013 takes place at Okanagan College on March 1. The event includes bridge-building competitions for secondary and post-secondary students, plus the popular Heavyweight competition, open to full-time secondary or post-secondary students. Last year, the winning heavy-weight competitor was Peter Sandor, an engineering student from the College of Nyiregyhaza in Hungary, whose bridge weighed in at 967 grams and held 384.06 kg before shattering. Contest rules and registration forms are available at www.okanagan.bc.ca/spaghettibridge.

TimeDrive is being hosted by Gennext Kelowna and the OYP Collective in partnership with Global Citizen Kelowna, the first event of its kind. Hundreds of young professionals will be connecting with global and local not-for-profit organization s via a truly unique silent auction. Instead of bidding, people will bid volunteer hours for local not-for-profits and the arts community. Tickets only $15. Go to www.timedrivesocial.eventbrite.com for more information.

The Kelowna & District Safety Council will host a free open house information session for could-be motorcycle riders on Wednesday, Feb. 20, and Thursday, March 7, from 7 to 9 p.m., at 395 Hartman Road. It’s free but you must RSVP as space is limited. Call 250-765-3163.

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